Locking device for watch-bracelets.



O. L. DEPOLLIER. LOCKING DEVICE FOR WATCH BRACELETS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1912.

1,131,682. Patented Mar.16,.1915.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHO TO LITHOU WASHING I'ON.

CHARLES L. DEPOLLIER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR HATCH-BRACELETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1.915.

Application filed April 9, 1912. Serial No. 689,637.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. DEPOLLIER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in New York, in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looking Devices for Watch-Bracelets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bracelets, and more particularly to locking devices for watch-bracelets.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved locking means which insures the positioning of the bracelet on the wearers arm so as to prevent the separating of the parts and the consequent loss of the bracelet. In the devices hitherto in use a sudden or unexpected pressure on the connecting devices would cause such a separation. On the other hand, a requirement of an efficient lock is that it be not too bulky or difficult to operate.

For this purpose my invention consists of an improved locking device comprising a holder for the watch, a fixed member on said holder a hinged member adapted to embrace the fixed member, and locking means on the fixed member coiiperating with the hinged member.

The invention consists of additional de tails of construction as will be fully described hereafter and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a front or plan-view of a watchbracelet having a watch or other ornament and provided with my improved locking device. Fig. 2 is a side-view, drawn on a larger scale, partly in section and partly in elevation, of my improved locking device, as applied to watch-bracelet, and F igr 3 is an enlarged view of my improved locking device showing the same in open position.

Similar characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Fig. 1, the Watch-bracelet 10 is provided with a plurality of expansion-links 11 of well known construction. The bracelet supports a holder 12 preferably of ringshape for a watch or other ornament, the watch-stem being indicated by 13. The free end 14 of the bracelet is connected with a projecting portion 15 of the holder 12 by means of a locking device which embodies my improvement and which is shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 8.

This locking device consists of a fixed member 16, which is secured to the portion 15 and provided with an upwardly-extending hook-shaped portion 17 having an exterior projection 18. The upwardly-extending hook-shaped portion 17 is provided with a straight upper edge 20 and an inclined or curved lower edge 21. The movable portion 25 of the locking device is pivoted at 23 to the projecting portion 15 of the holder 12 and is provided with a knurled segment 24 by means of which the movable portion may be readily taken hold of by the fingers. The pivoted portion 25 is also hook-shaped and provided with a straight inner surface 26 which is adapted to seat itself on the straight upper surface 20 of the member 16. The hook-shaped end of the portion 25 is provided at its inner face with a recess 28 corresponding in shape to the projection 18 of the fixed member and with straight portions 29 at each side of the re cess 28, which are adapted to seat themselves on the corresponding straight portion 31 at each side of the projection 18 of the fixed member 16. The hook-shaped end of the pivoted member 25 is provided with a handle or knob 27 on its outer face by means of which it may be readily taken hold of. The link 30 of the expansible bracelet adj a cent to the handle 27 is provided with a recess 31 which seats itself on the curved end of the handle 27 and is pressed against the same by the helical spring 32. The hookshaped end of the member 16 provides a seat for the cross-bar 33 of the adjacent link of the expansible bracelet, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 the members forming the locking device take up the full width of the end-link. The improved lock has been shown as applied to an expansion bracelet, but it may also be used in connection with leather-strap bracelets having end-links, and the embodiment of the locking device shown is made of gold to give the cooperating parts the necessary resiliency, but other material having these or like qualities rendering the lock operative as described may be used.

By the means described a locking device is produced which has a snap-action and at the same time is locked in position by means of the recess 28 engaging the projection 18 and is also held in position by means of the operation of the bracelet insofar as the link 30 presses against the handle 27 and thereby holds the parts in position. The members 16 and 25 interlock with each other in the manner shown in Fig. 2, and provide in connection with the overlapping and interlocking parts 18 and 28 a locking device which is maintained in locked position in a reliable manner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a bracelet, the combination of a fixed hook-shaped part integral therewith, a pivoted hook-shaped overlapping part having a handle which is adapted to be moved into a position within the contour of the bracelet and in engagement with a link thereof, said fixed and pivoted hook-shaped parts having a projection and a recess respectively at their overlapping portions adapted to look into each other, said recess extending into only a part of the width of said pivoted member.

2. In a bracelet, the combination of a part having a projection, a movable part having a recess adapted to be engaged and disengaged from said projection, and having a second projection, a springactuated link having a recess adapted to be engaged by said second projection, said spring-actuated link being pressed against said second projection by said spring when said movable part is locked, said second projection engaging with said recess of said link when said movable part is locked.

3. In a link watch-bracelet, a holder adapted to carry a watch, and permanently attached at one end to one of the links of said bracelet, said links having cross-bars, the opposite end of said holder having a locking-device for engaging the cross bar of the link of the bracelet adjacent thereto, said lockingdevice comprising a fixed hook attached to said holder, and the end of said hook having a projection away from said holder, the plane of said hook being perpendicular to the plane of the holder of said bracelet, and a pivoted locking-member pivoted near said holder, and adapted to swing in a plane perpendicular to that of the holder, said pivoted locking-member having a recess adapted to be entered by and engaged by the said projection on the said fixed part, said pivoted locking-member having a handle ex tending away from said holder, the link adjacent said handle having a recess adapted to engage the head of said handle, and a spring for continually urging said adjacent link against said handle, the curve of the hook of said fixed member connected to said holder, providing a seat for the cross-bar or" the adjacent link of the bracelet.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES L. DEPOLLIER.

Witnesses:

JOHN MURTAGH, THOMAS P. CoNLoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

